Brian Williams, Rodney Dangerfield of the Nightly News World?

Yes, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams has millions of fans, who admire his command of the English language, familiarity with newsmakers and mastery of fast-breaking news.

But Williams stays grounded, thanks to the family, friends and colleagues who like to kid around with him about his many accomplishments. Not every television star would happily accept such ribbing. I’ve covered media stars who truly believe they deserve to be treated like rock stars. Don’t count Williams among them.

I wrote a column a few months ago, suggesting that Williams had become this generation’s version of the venerable Walter Cronkite — the father of news anchors.

When I reminded Williams, he nodded knowingly and quipped, “I might have received ribbing from a few friends about that.”

Don’t bother reminding his family and colleagues that millions of viewers hang on his words. Do they recognize him as some sort of an oracle? Not quite.

“Ask my daughter, 22 years old,” Williams said in an episode of “Media Matters with Jon Friedman.”

“I was at a gathering with her about two years ago and she said, ‘I don’t recognize the dad who does ‘Nightly News,’” he pointed out. “That is no one remotely close to the man I grew up with.”

Williams delights in telling stories of everyday life at home in which he is the fall guy.

“I was given the Father of the Year award in New York a few years back, and it’s the old cliché,” he said, enjoying the memory. “You’re at home, it’s a Sunday night, there’s chicken carcass in the kitchen trash and some member of my household is likely to say, ‘Is the Father of the Year going to take it out to the garage?’ I got a few, ‘I don’t know, Ask Walter Cronkite here,’ after your column aired.”

Another way that Williams stays humble is to remember frequently how far he has come, from his youthful days as a guy who hung out in New Jersey bars in the hope that Bruce Springsteen might somehow decide to turn up and play a set with a local garage band.

“How lucky and how unlikely (my story has become…to have dreamed a big outlandish dream! Where else is this going to happen but in the United States?”

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.